First Edition Cycling News for December 8, 2006

Spanish soccer clubs linked to Fuentes?

The latest of the Spanish doping investigation called Operación Puerto
seems to have spread beyond the world of cycling into another, globally
even more popular sport: soccer. French national newspaper Le Monde
claims to have in its possession several documents revealing the involvement
of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in the training schedules of the two
greatest soccer clubs in Spain, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The confidential, but non-nominative documents are reported to be seasonal
preparation plans for the two clubs, hand-written by Fuentes himself.
The newspaper claims that the papers, which also concern the FC Valencia
and Sevilla, are not part of the documents seized by the Guardia Civil.
If the reports are proven to be true and it emerges that high-profile
footballers have been receiving illegal treatments, it will mean that
the Operación Puerto enquiry will be much more far-reaching and
have even more serious consequences than was anticipated.

On these sketches appear the objectives of the FC Barcelona in the season
2005-2006 (the Champions League, won by the team in may 2006), as well
as notes regarding individual players, targeting the World Cup. Arrows,
pointing either up or down, allegedly marked intensive competition periods
or physical tests.

Codes such as small circles or the letters "IG", apparently the same
ones as found on Fuentes' training programme documents attributed by the
investigators to the former Liberty Seguros team, would then mark preparation
or recuperation phases. According to the investigation report of the Guardia
Civil, these codes would correspond to the administering of steroids and
IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor).

Furthermore, the soccer training plans include codes such as an encircled
"e", which would correspond to blood extraction or re-injection, and a
dot inside a circle, signifying the intake of EPO - all allegations made
by Le Monde.

When the Operación Puerto scandal broke, in may 2006, initial
reports suggested that Eufemiano Fuentes did not only include cyclists
on his list of clients, but also soccer players and athletes. The Spanish
government denied that other sports were involved, but Fuentes himself
contradicted this claim in July.

In an interview
with Cyclingnews, Spanish ex-professional Jesús Manzano insisted
that some athletes and soccer players were also involved with Fuentes,
but since then, no more news of the other sports' implication filtered
from the investigation.

Cycling has received the vast majority of the negative publicity from
the Operación Puerto affair, with several big names being sidelined
from the Tour de France and other events. UCI president Pat McQuaid responded
to the reports, saying "It doesn’t surprise me. I have said all along
that with the sophisticated methods which Fuentes had developed, it was
certain that he wasn’t making his money only from cyclists. There had
to be other sportspersons involved."

Speaking from the Asian Games in Qatar, McQuaid declined to compare
the treatment cycling has received with that of football. "I do not
wish to discuss any other sport, my concern is cycling and getting to
the end of this process for the sake of cycling’s reputation. If we can
begin the process against the those riders implicated and ultimately need
to sanction some of them, then cycling will benefit."

McQuaid stressed that, since the 1998 Tour de France scandals, the sport
has made concerted efforts to deal with doping issues, and that cycling
is ahead of other sports in this regard. "The UCI have always maintained
that cycling goes further than all other sports in the fight against doping.
This continues to be the case and currently there is a lot of work going
by the teams and the UCI, both independently and together to come up with
new methods in the fight against doping. Yet again, cycling will be the
pioneer in the fight against doping." In comparison, at the Football World
Cup in Germany this summer, all 228 anti-doping controls came back negative,
but the world-governing body of the sport, FIFA, did not carry out a single
blood control

The days and weeks ahead will show how accurate Thursday’s reports of
doping in football are. McQuaid was hesitant to draw any conclusions about
the effect the Le Monde reports will have, or if he felt that cycling
has undeservedly taken the lion's share of the burden, saying "This, so
far, is only a newspaper report and so can only be treated as such," he
responded. "I would have to await further information before I could speculate
as to if and why cycling might have been treated unfairly."

Ullrich and Operación Puerto - the confusion continues

Will Jan Ullrich have to testify in Operación Puerto? The answer
to this question, as it is to most questions associated with Operación
Puerto, is who knows? A mild sensation raced through Germany Thursday
afternoon after Ullrich's spokesman Michael Lang announced
the spanish court had indicated that they "do not lay any value on his
testimony in this case."

Lang told Cyclingnews that this meant that Ullrich would not have
to testify in the matter at all. However, later he said that it appeared
that the court was concentrating on the Spanish riders at the moment,
and that therefore Ullrich would not be required to testify at this time,
and that "he is not involved at this stage of things."

"That's good news. We take things step by step, and this is a positive
step," Lang said, but refused to comment on whether Ullrich might be involved
in the case later on.

Swiss Cycling expects court to uphold Hondo' ban

Swiss Cycling expects the Bundesgericht (Swiss court) to uphold Danilo
Hondo's two-year ban from cycling after he tested positive for the drug
Carphedon. "I consider it as highly unlikely that the Bundesgericht will
uphold Hondo's appeal and return the case for a new ruling.," said Bernhard
Welten, of the national federation. "I believe that the Bundesgericht
will reject the appeal and so uphold the CAS' decision."

Hondo tested positive in March 2005. Swiss Cycling originally issed
a one-year ban. The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed that decision, and
the CAS-TAS, the international sports court, issued the two year ban last
January, effective until March 2007. Hondo was able to take advantage
of a loophole in sports law because of where he lives in Switzerland and
appealed the CAS decision in the Swiss court system. In June the Swiss
Bundesgericht lifted the ban pending a final decision, allowing Hondo
to ride over the summer.

Welten indicated that he did not know when the final decision would
be issued. However, since the two-year ban expires on March 31, 2007,
it seems unlikely that either side would have any interest in appealing
whatever decision might be issued, as the ban would end before the appeal
process would end.

Hondo has signed to ride with the continental professional team Tinkoff
Credit Systems for next season.

Shorter Bayern Rundfahrt

By Susan Westemeyer

"Short and sweet, " is how organiser Ewald Strohmeier describes the
2007 edition of the Bayern Rundfahrt, which will cover only 761 km in
five stages from May 30 to June 3. "We have selected a course which fulfills
all the requriements of a race in this category, even if it is 20 to 30
kilometer shorter than usual."

The organization noted that it is difficult to select a fair course
in Bavaria, and that is purposely avoids the steepest Alpine climbs and
exceptionally long stages. The race considers iteself a good preparation
for the Tour de France "because it offer the perfect mixture."

The race expects a starting field of 16 teams of six riders each, including
the ProTour teams Milram, CSC, T-Mobile, Gerolsteiner, and Astaná.

Rujano signs with Unibet.com

It looks like the embattled Venezuelan star José Rujano will be riding
with Unibet.com for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Thursday, the 24 year-old
signed a contract with the Belgium-based team. Unibet.com is one of a
handful of teams vying for a ProTour license in the 2007 season.

Rujano rocketed to stardom in the 2005 Giro while riding under Gianni
Savio at Selle Italia-Colombia. He won one of that year's most demanding
stages, from Savigliano
to Sestriere, which included the unpaved Colle delle Finestre. The
stage and a solid three week performance granted him the right to the
third step on the Giro's final podium in Milano and the maglia verde
for best climber.

2006 was a big transition year for Rujano, who competed in Savio's team
through the Giro, when he bizarrely abandoned in stage
13, before switching
over to Patrick Lefevere's Quick-Step formation. His debut in the
Tour de France was lack-lustre, and personal problems spelled an
end to his time with Belgium's biggest team.

With Unibet.com Rujano may have found a team with the same fighting spirit
as Selle Italia and it could enable him to be back in the thick of the
action. According to tuttobiciweb.com, Hanegraaf and Unibet.com
Team Manager Terryn Koen got the official signature of the climber, accompanied
by agent Giuseppe Acquadro, Thursday afternoon in Milano's Malpensa airport.

"Rujano will definitely be our team leader in the big tours. He's got
the ability to compete with the world's best climbers", said Jacques Hanegraaf,
director sportif of Unibet.com. "Rujano is very ambitious and wants to
race the Giro d'Italia as well as the Tour de France, but we'll make up
his race programme later on!"

Rite Aid Pro Cycling for 2007

The Rite Aid Pro Cycling team has strengthened it's team for 2007, signing
is Alejandro Barrajo, a rider from the Miche team, who garnered seven
top ten finishes in the 2004 Giro d' Italia, including a third place to
Alessandro Petacchi in stage 6, and also took second place to Eric Zabel
in the 2005 Rund um den Henniger Turm. The Argentinian's most recent result
was a win in the 2006 South American Road Championship this past November.

Women's development foundation created

The AE Sport Development Foundation has been created by American Espoir,
operator of the 2006 CPT-Colnago Professional women’s team, with the goals
of providing development opportunities and assistance to women in cycling.
The foundation will provide resources and guidance for women identified
as Olympic and world-championship talents.

Seven to eight athletes will be selected for the 2007 program scholarship,
and the foundation will provide guidance and training within the Performance
Enhancement Team (PET) model, which uses an assortment of experts within
the fields of sport psychology, physiology, medicine, and nutrition to
overcome obstacles and maximize each athlete’s growth toward their potential.

A significant portion of the nonprofit organization’s budget comes from
public sport grants and private funding, which ensures the longevity of
the program. AE Sport Development board director Chris Wentz said, “The
development program is something I and the other partners are very proud
of because it provides long-term support for riders. Women have brought
home many medals at World Championships, and, in my opinion, many corporate
sponsors are dismissing their wide audience and wholesome character. This
program will work with athletes over several years, and because of that
stability I see only success for the Foundation’s goals.”